Low Power FM local content vs High Power FM and NPR

Doc writes about Low Power FM radio (LPFM) in his Doc Searls Weblog.



"The idea was to allow commnity radio to grow through the cracks in the corporate bigtime radio concrete."



He goes on to mention that one problem is there are just not many open freq.'s in many areas. Unlike print or the net there is a fixed amount of space on the dial. As anyone can hear for themselves, the stations on the left in the non commercial band are often filled with a college or other station running NPR.



I despise NPR and this is why. National Public Radio serves to muscle out Local Public Radio (LPR). It is a disgrace to have a local broadcast license and just flip the switch and run close to 24 hours of NPR. Plus the non comm station often has to spend time fundraising to get the money to buy the NPR shows. Did you think it was free?



Local non comm stations should have local content, lots of it. Local hosts and local content. Of course some do. Here we have KUSF where I worked and KFJC, home of the awesome Phil Dirt show and many other stations with non comm local content.



Is there so much NPR on because no one approaches these stations with good shows and show ideas?

Could be. Would LPFM help? sure, but with the freq's filled up in lots of places I like the idea of HPFM and LPR.